23 December 2017•Update: 24 December 2017
By Sibel Ugurlu
ANKARA
Two international students who received top awards Friday in an arts competition expressed their love for Turkey and its warmth and hospitality, which was reflected in their winning entries.
"I have always felt at home here in Turkey in terms of culture, religion and language," Sabina Abbasli, an Azerbaijani student, told Anadolu Agency.
Abbasli, who is studying History at Turkey’s northwestern Sakarya University, finished first in the poetry category of a competition organized by Turkey’s Federation of International Student Associations (UDEF).
“My love for Turkey stimulated my emotions,” she said while expressing her pride for being awarded for her poem in which she praised Turkish history and told of Turkey’s efforts to lend a helping hand all around the world.
The competition, with short movie, poetry and short story categories, was organized by UDEF for foreign students studying in Turkey.
The main aim of the project was to be able to see Turkey from the eyes of the foreign students and also to give them the opportunity to express their feelings and what they gained during the time they spent in Turkey, said Mehmet Ali Bolat, head of UDEF.
According to Bolat, more than 100,000 international students from 160 countries are studying in Turkey.
Manasbeg Maksudov from Kyrgyzstan, who won for best short movie, thanked Turkey and the Turkish people for seeing international students as “guests” instead of “foreigners”.
His short film “Turkey is my country” depicted foreign students on the night of the July 15 coup attempt last year and how they poured into the streets carrying Turkish flags in support of Turkish democracy.
“The story I told in my short movie is real. I wanted to tell how the foreign national students behaved on that night from their eyes,” he said.
Maksudov said he had been in his country for the summer holiday on July 15 last year but followed the saddening incidents through his friends in Turkey.
“I took to the streets in my country after the coup attempt to support Turkey,” he said.
Serap Yasar, a ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party deputy in Istanbul, said the students “used the language of art very well”.
“They were able to express themselves as if they were born in Turkey. After they finish school, Turkey will be their second homeland.”
UDEF is a non-governmental organization founded in 2014 to provide coordination between international student associations.
